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OAKLAND
Though this much-maligned city usually loses in the struggle with San Francisco for media attention, it does have a “there there.” (Although Gertrude Stein, who lived here as a child, is often quoted as having said about this city, “There is no there there,” in reality it seems that she was referring to what remained of her demolished childhood house.)
Interesting facts about this surprising city
●It is the West Coast headquarters for the federal government.
●The popsicle was invented by Oakland resident Frank Epperson in 1905, when he was 11.
●It has the country’s fourth-largest Chinatown (or Asia Town as it is called here).
●Cal grad Shuck Yee invented the fortune cookie machine in Oakland in 1973.
●The Human Wave--the synchronized movement of sports fans in stadiums--was “invented” in Oakland during the seventh-inning stretch of the final playoff game between the Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees on October 15, 1981.
●It is the most ethnically diverse city in the U.S., with approximately 125 different languages and dialects spoken.
●It is also has great weather—an average of 260 sunny days per year.
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